Though lunch will still be served, Plowshares will temporarily stop serving evening meals at the end of this month, Executive Director Traci Boyl announced this week.

“It is very important that people know this is a temporary suspension,” Boyl said Thursday, explaining that dinner will be served weekdays through Friday, Jan. 26, at the organization’s facility at 1346 S. State St., but not again until sometime in the spring.

“I am hesitant to give a specific date,” Boyl said, adding that she was also hesitant to give specific details about what her plans are for revamping how the facility serves meals. “I have very clear ideas about what I want to accomplish, but I’m being purposely vague because I don’t want to give out information that may change.”

In a press release, Boyl states that the Plowshares board of directors voted unanimously to suspend the dinner service after discussing the issue “for more than an hour” during its Jan. 17 meeting.

Also in the release, Boyl is quoted as saying, “we need this time to recruit and train new volunteers and redesign our services. Plowshares suffers a loss of nearly $5,000 each month and we cannot continue operating in the same way.”

Boyl further explains that donations have been decreasing in the past five years, and the pool of volunteers is also shrinking.

Boyl said Thursday she will be exploring ways to both find and retain more volunteers, but also considering “changing how we prepare and serve meals so that we’re not so dependent on volunteers to do so.”

“I understand that this will cause a temporary disturbance in the community and I am sorry for the hardship, but am excited about the opportunities,” Boyl said in the release.

“I believe that the temporary suspension will result in improved services that are more clearly aligned with our mission ‘that no one in our community go hungry; to operate a community-supported facility where services, advocacy and education help eliminate the causes of hunger and poverty, and to maintain a supportive and consistent environment where all are treated with respect, justice and dignity.’”

Boyl also notes that the “temporary suspension will save on administrative costs and allow our staff … to focus on the recruitment and training of new volunteers and the development of new programming that will support families with children, increased support to the Meals on Wheels program, and increased connections to services and vocational opportunities for our dining hall guests.”

Lunch is served at Plowshares on weekdays from 11:30 a.m. until noon, “free to all, no questions asked.” Dinner will be served weekdays from 5:30 to 6 p.m. through Jan. 26, then postponed until further notice.

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For more information on volunteering, donating or serving on the organization’s board, call 707-462-8582 or email: plowshares @pacific.net.